As the title says I am completely new to D&D and wanted to play around with creating a character before I got to far into things. I have created the following paladin by just reading guides and stuff but am not sure where to go from here or even if this is a decent build. Any help or information you have I would greatly appreciate. Again I have no clue what I am doing so if its trash let me know and Ill try again. Thanks in advance!
You created a level 18 paladin? Your stats look fine for level one. I tend to go with all even ability scores, then if I want to use an ASI on something, I just put both points into it. The only time I might take an odd number, would be if I am planning on taking a half feat (something that gives you +1 in one ability score and some other benefit) later on. For instance, you could take your Str to 16 and bump your Cha to 14 for the +2. You lose nothing by doing it this way, but you gain another +1 to your Cha. Well...that's not totally true, you lose the ability to carry an extra 15 lbs, by going from 17 Str to 16 Str. But that's effectively nothing imo. And your character can be in the exact same place at level four, if you were going to use it for an ASI, as it would have been going with the uneven stats and the ASI.
With two ability scores uneven, I think it kind of locks you into taking the ASI to get them both to be even. I would want the flexibility of taking a feat, if I wanted to. I mean, you could do a feat, obviously, but you would be better off making those two uneven stats, be even at level four. Which means you then can't do a feat until level 8. So yeah, do it how you wish, but I would drop the Str by one and bump your Cha by one, at least. I would have to work with the character creator myself, with a Mtn Dwarf to know how I would do it for certain.
Have you done your Ability Score Improvements yet? I think you should increase Charisma, then strength, then constitution. Also give it spells when you know your party, or when you know the role you want it to play.
Increase your CHA. #1 reason for a paladin to exist in the party is to help increase those saves! If you're going for a shield user build, here's what you wanna do:
Change your custom origin to grab a +2 to your STR and +2 to CHA, and set your base CHA to 15, STR to 14, CON to 14. I'd dump INT and DEX. Then at lvl 4 grab either skill expert to increase CHA and grab expertise in either persuasion or intimidation, or grab fey touched: CHA.
After that, you can do whatever you feel is best. lvl 1 dips into hexblade are popular for shield users, but I'd recommend to do that after lvl 5 if you're thinking that suits your character. You could cap out your CHA, or increase STR, or grab a feat. To make further recommendations, what is your main goal you wanna achieve with your paladin?
It looks like you went with "standard array" for stats. If your game requires standard array, these stats are fine. The three key stats for a paladin will be weapon attack (usually strength, but can be dexterity), constitution, and charisma, and it's honestly up to you what order you prioritize those stats in starting off. Just be aware that some paladin oaths, particularly the oath of conquest, put more pressure on your charisma so with this particular stat selection you'll want to pick one of the less charisma intensive oaths, like maybe Vengeance. Oath of Vengeance also fits with the common dwarven stereotype of holding grudges. Devotion & Ancients are also decent choices. All that said, if your game allows "point buy", I'd recommend using that instead of the standard array, and aim to start with a higher charisma and fewer odd stats in general. Maybe something like Str 16, Dex 8, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 14. That's just a loose suggestion, you can shift those stats around as you like, particularly the few points invested into dexterity, intelligence, and wisdom, which aren't critical for your class mechanics and are mostly there for flavor. In a strictly character op sense, you should maybe dump int to rais dexterity up a bit instead, but low dex feels more 'dwarfy' to me.
Looks like you haven't planned out ability score improvements (ASIs) at all. Do you know if your game allows feats?
If you're required to use the standard array, then your previous ability scores are fine to start, but I'd definitely recommend using your first ASI on evening out some of the odd stats and raising your charisma a bit by taking +1 strength and +1 charisma. Alternatively, if feats are allowed, you might look at "half feats" - feats with lesser effects but that also grant +1 to a single ability score. "Fey Touched" from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything isn't especially dwarfy sounding, but is a very effective way to round out your charisma score, particularly if you pick an oath that does not grant Misty Step as an oath spell. "Blugeoner", also from Tasha's, is a fun and dwarfy way to round out your strength, but Heavy Armor Master is also a good option. It doesn't scale so well, though, so it's only really good if your campaign will be wrapping up around or before level 10ish, which is typical.
After that, or if you are allowed to use point buy and don't need to even out your stats, then you might look at maybe one feat. Looks like you're going 'hammer & shield' for your primary equipment, perhaps aiming for a sort of party tank / defender type role. For that, you might look into the Sentinel feat, which can prevent enemies from walking away from you to attack your allies, or punish them for attacking your allies if they can do so without walking away from you. For this sort of defensive build, consider oath of ancients, devotion, or maybe oath of the crown, both of which feel pretty dwarfy in tone, and ask if your DM will allow some of the alternate features from Tasha's, particularly the expanded spell list to get Warding Bond if you don't go with Oath of the Crown which gets it anyway. If you do go with oath of the crown, raising charisma becomes even more important to make good use of the Spirit Guardians oath spell.
If you're instead looking to focus on an offensive, damage dealing role, you might consider shifting over to using a maul and picking up Great Weapon Master, or spear and shield with Pole Arm Master (which works with spears after PHB errata). This sort of role favors a more offensive oath like Vengeance.
Other feats worth considering regardless of your main party role include Lucky, Alert, Inspiring Leader, and War Caster.
All that said, though, I wouldn't take more than maybe one feat (not counting half feats to round out stats) before focusing more on your stats, and honestly it wouldn't be a bad call to skip feats altogether and just focus on stats for a while. You'd like to get both your strength and charisma as high as possible. Personally, I'd recommend focusing on charisma first until it's at least up to 16 if not higher, particularly if you're aiming for more of a support/tank/defender role. Partly because the Paladin class's key support abilities, particularly aura of protection, tend to use charisma, but also because you might be lucky enough to find a magic item like Gauntlets of Ogre Power or Belt of Giant Strength that will mostly handle your strength score for you. But if you're focusing on damage and taking the oath of vengeance then you might be better off getting charisma to a baseline of 14 and then focusing on strength until it's maxed out.
....
In general, though, you'll mostly be fine regardless. Paladin is a strong class by default. There are ways to optimize it, sure, but even if you don't you're still going to end up with a pretty strong character. So it really is fine to just take the options that make sense to you from a role playing or character portrayal perspective and just go from there.
Hey guys,
As the title says I am completely new to D&D and wanted to play around with creating a character before I got to far into things. I have created the following paladin by just reading guides and stuff but am not sure where to go from here or even if this is a decent build. Any help or information you have I would greatly appreciate. Again I have no clue what I am doing so if its trash let me know and Ill try again. Thanks in advance!
https://ddb.ac/characters/43176038/KdCc9n
You created a level 18 paladin? Your stats look fine for level one. I tend to go with all even ability scores, then if I want to use an ASI on something, I just put both points into it. The only time I might take an odd number, would be if I am planning on taking a half feat (something that gives you +1 in one ability score and some other benefit) later on. For instance, you could take your Str to 16 and bump your Cha to 14 for the +2. You lose nothing by doing it this way, but you gain another +1 to your Cha. Well...that's not totally true, you lose the ability to carry an extra 15 lbs, by going from 17 Str to 16 Str. But that's effectively nothing imo. And your character can be in the exact same place at level four, if you were going to use it for an ASI, as it would have been going with the uneven stats and the ASI.
With two ability scores uneven, I think it kind of locks you into taking the ASI to get them both to be even. I would want the flexibility of taking a feat, if I wanted to. I mean, you could do a feat, obviously, but you would be better off making those two uneven stats, be even at level four. Which means you then can't do a feat until level 8. So yeah, do it how you wish, but I would drop the Str by one and bump your Cha by one, at least. I would have to work with the character creator myself, with a Mtn Dwarf to know how I would do it for certain.
Hope this helps. Good luck in your game.
Have you done your Ability Score Improvements yet? I think you should increase Charisma, then strength, then constitution. Also give it spells when you know your party, or when you know the role you want it to play.
also get weapons you have proficiency in
Increase your CHA. #1 reason for a paladin to exist in the party is to help increase those saves! If you're going for a shield user build, here's what you wanna do:
Change your custom origin to grab a +2 to your STR and +2 to CHA, and set your base CHA to 15, STR to 14, CON to 14. I'd dump INT and DEX. Then at lvl 4 grab either skill expert to increase CHA and grab expertise in either persuasion or intimidation, or grab fey touched: CHA.
After that, you can do whatever you feel is best. lvl 1 dips into hexblade are popular for shield users, but I'd recommend to do that after lvl 5 if you're thinking that suits your character. You could cap out your CHA, or increase STR, or grab a feat. To make further recommendations, what is your main goal you wanna achieve with your paladin?
It looks like you went with "standard array" for stats. If your game requires standard array, these stats are fine. The three key stats for a paladin will be weapon attack (usually strength, but can be dexterity), constitution, and charisma, and it's honestly up to you what order you prioritize those stats in starting off. Just be aware that some paladin oaths, particularly the oath of conquest, put more pressure on your charisma so with this particular stat selection you'll want to pick one of the less charisma intensive oaths, like maybe Vengeance. Oath of Vengeance also fits with the common dwarven stereotype of holding grudges. Devotion & Ancients are also decent choices. All that said, if your game allows "point buy", I'd recommend using that instead of the standard array, and aim to start with a higher charisma and fewer odd stats in general. Maybe something like Str 16, Dex 8, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 14. That's just a loose suggestion, you can shift those stats around as you like, particularly the few points invested into dexterity, intelligence, and wisdom, which aren't critical for your class mechanics and are mostly there for flavor. In a strictly character op sense, you should maybe dump int to rais dexterity up a bit instead, but low dex feels more 'dwarfy' to me.
Looks like you haven't planned out ability score improvements (ASIs) at all. Do you know if your game allows feats?
If you're required to use the standard array, then your previous ability scores are fine to start, but I'd definitely recommend using your first ASI on evening out some of the odd stats and raising your charisma a bit by taking +1 strength and +1 charisma. Alternatively, if feats are allowed, you might look at "half feats" - feats with lesser effects but that also grant +1 to a single ability score. "Fey Touched" from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything isn't especially dwarfy sounding, but is a very effective way to round out your charisma score, particularly if you pick an oath that does not grant Misty Step as an oath spell. "Blugeoner", also from Tasha's, is a fun and dwarfy way to round out your strength, but Heavy Armor Master is also a good option. It doesn't scale so well, though, so it's only really good if your campaign will be wrapping up around or before level 10ish, which is typical.
After that, or if you are allowed to use point buy and don't need to even out your stats, then you might look at maybe one feat. Looks like you're going 'hammer & shield' for your primary equipment, perhaps aiming for a sort of party tank / defender type role. For that, you might look into the Sentinel feat, which can prevent enemies from walking away from you to attack your allies, or punish them for attacking your allies if they can do so without walking away from you. For this sort of defensive build, consider oath of ancients, devotion, or maybe oath of the crown, both of which feel pretty dwarfy in tone, and ask if your DM will allow some of the alternate features from Tasha's, particularly the expanded spell list to get Warding Bond if you don't go with Oath of the Crown which gets it anyway. If you do go with oath of the crown, raising charisma becomes even more important to make good use of the Spirit Guardians oath spell.
If you're instead looking to focus on an offensive, damage dealing role, you might consider shifting over to using a maul and picking up Great Weapon Master, or spear and shield with Pole Arm Master (which works with spears after PHB errata). This sort of role favors a more offensive oath like Vengeance.
Other feats worth considering regardless of your main party role include Lucky, Alert, Inspiring Leader, and War Caster.
All that said, though, I wouldn't take more than maybe one feat (not counting half feats to round out stats) before focusing more on your stats, and honestly it wouldn't be a bad call to skip feats altogether and just focus on stats for a while. You'd like to get both your strength and charisma as high as possible. Personally, I'd recommend focusing on charisma first until it's at least up to 16 if not higher, particularly if you're aiming for more of a support/tank/defender role. Partly because the Paladin class's key support abilities, particularly aura of protection, tend to use charisma, but also because you might be lucky enough to find a magic item like Gauntlets of Ogre Power or Belt of Giant Strength that will mostly handle your strength score for you. But if you're focusing on damage and taking the oath of vengeance then you might be better off getting charisma to a baseline of 14 and then focusing on strength until it's maxed out.
....
In general, though, you'll mostly be fine regardless. Paladin is a strong class by default. There are ways to optimize it, sure, but even if you don't you're still going to end up with a pretty strong character. So it really is fine to just take the options that make sense to you from a role playing or character portrayal perspective and just go from there.